2003 Dodge Neon Srt-4 Sedan 4-door 2.4l on 2040-cars

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Fiat Chrysler dumped 40,000 unordered vehicles on dealers

In a move that echoes recent history, Fiat Chrysler has been making more cars and trucks than dealers in the U.S. are willing to accept, with Bloomberg reporting that at one point the automaker had built up a glut of around 40,000 unordered vehicles. That’s led some dealers to accuse FCA of reviving the dreaded “sales bank” accounting practice of obscuring inventory to improve the balance sheet. The company reportedly began building up its inventory of unordered cars this summer despite an industrywide slowdown in sales and an eagerness by some dealers to thin their inventories because rising interest rates are making it more expensive to hold unsold cars. The inventory build-up also coincided with Fiat ChryslerÂ’s efforts to find a merger partner, first with Renault, which fell through, then last monthÂ’s announcement that it will merge with FranceÂ’s PSA Group. FCA denies any such scheme and tells Bloomberg the rising inventory is down to a new predictive analytics system designed to better square supply with demand from dealers that is helping the company save money and narrow the numbers of unsold vehicles. The company recently agreed to pay a $40 million civil penalty to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle a complaint that it paid dealers to report fake sales figures over a span of five years. While no one is suggesting that FCA is in dire financial straits — the company saw higher than expected earnings in the third quarter and record profits in North America — the practice has strong historical precedent by Chrysler, which built up bloated inventories in the run-up to its two federal bailouts, in 1980 and 2009. It was also common at GM and Ford during the 2000s, when all three Detroit automakers struggled with excess manufacturing capacity and plummeting sales in the lead-up to the Great Recession. Back in 2012, CFO Magazine wrote about a report that explained automakersÂ’ rationale for the practice and how it works: Say fixed costs for a given factory are $100, and that the factory can make 50 cars. Consumers, however, demand only 10. Under absorption costing, if the company makes all 50 cars, its cost-per-car is $2. If it makes only up to demand, or 10 cars, the cost-per-car is $10. Although each car adds variable costs for steel and other parts, if those costs are low, the company still has an incentive to make more cars to keep the cost-per-car down.

Dodge could resurrect the ACR nameplate on a track-hungry Challenger

Dodge will reportedly celebrate the Challenger's 50th birthday by introducing a track-focused variant of the coupe that will resurrect the American Club Racer (ACR) nameplate. It will arrive as a cocktail of the automaker's best race-bred parts, including bits and pieces sourced from the defunct Viper. The Challenger ACR will be presented as a follow-up to the sold-out Challenger Demon available during the 2018 model year. While Dodge developed the 840-horsepower Demon for drag racing, it's designing the ACR to tackle America's windiest road courses, according to anonymous sources who spoke to website Mopar Insiders. It will need to take a turn, not just go really fast in a straight line. To that end, Dodge will give its popular muscle car more downforce by adding a full body kit that will include a huge adjustable rear wing shaped like the one fitted to the Viper ACR. The racer will be based on the Widebody variant of the Challenger, which handles considerably better than its narrow-bodied sibling, and it will rely on composite materials like carbon fiber to keep weight in check. In other words, it will receive more extreme modifications than the Challenger SRT8 ACR that Dodge introduced during the 2011 SEMA show but never approved for production. If this configuration sounds familiar, it's likely because the carmaker sponsors an independent team named Wesley Motorsports, which races a Hellcat Redeye all over America. It features an adjustable suspension provided by Blistein, slick Toyo tires, and a supercharged, 797-horsepower V8. The Challenger ACR described by Mopar Insiders sounds a lot like the one Wesley Motorsports regularly enters in hill climbs and time attack competitions (pictured). Coincidence? It's too early to tell for sure. Dodge hasn't commented on the report, and it hasn't announced what it has in store for the Challenger's 50th anniversary. The original Challenger made its debut in late 1969, and it arrived in showrooms during the 1970 model year, so Dodge will need to unwrap its surprise before the start of the 2021 model year to keep it timely. Expect an announcement during the first half of 2020. While pricing information remains a mystery, Mopar Insiders added the Challenger ACR will come standard with only a driver's sat. Buyers will be able to add a passenger seat for $1.

2015 Dodge Viper GTC Beauty-Roll

For those of you paying attention, we've really ramped up the old Autoblog video game these days. Our new series Car Club USA joins Translogic and The List, and there are more Daily Drivers and Short Cuts than ever. But sometimes, all you care about is the car. The Autoblog Beauty-Roll video series has one goal: bring you glossy video images of cars, and nothing but. We're collecting moving pictures of all the cars we test, inside and out. Each episode comes with a hit of engine sound – start-up and with a few revs – to round out the package. Set your resolution to max, kick it into full-screen, turn up the sound, and enjoy today's subject, the 2015 Dodge Viper GTC. Oh, and if you'd like more Beauty-Roll, click here to see the back catalog.